2010 Chevy Camaro SS Magnacharger - Blow Back

We Up The Power Of Our 2010 SS With A Blower From Magnacharger.Speed.

The rotors, instead of having nearly straight lobes, are twisted into a steep helix shape. Thanks to a vacuum-referenced bypass valve, the inlet pressure is equalized with the manifold pressure. This pretty much negates any parasitic loss while cruising and makes for a very efficient design. The newer Magnuson units, such as the one for the '10 Camaro, feature the improved Eaton TVS four-lobe rotor arrangement.

2/30

This new four-lobe arrangement (also found inside GM's LS9 blower) is a big improvement over the previous three-lobe design. Where the twist of the rotors on the older Gen V units was 60 degrees, the new TVS rotors are twisted to an aggressive 160 degrees. Also, the intermeshing design of the lobes helps quiet the supercharger even at high rpm. Like other Roots systems, the TVS Magnacharger is especially good at delivering boost at low engine rpm, and that's just what our '10 Camaro needs to get its mass in motion.

Bob explained to us one important aspect of the Magnacharger that makes installation easier. "We use the auxiliary drive with the carbon fiber shaft so that we can leave the throttle body, air meter, and the factory air box in the stock location for ease of installation." A side benefit to this design is that the air is fed directly into the front of the supercharger rather than having to be piped to the rear of the unit, and this increases efficiency.

3/30

Installation is pretty straightforward and can be accomplished in a day. We were impressed with Magnuson's extremely detailed full-color 54-page installation manual.

Follow along as we up the output of our new Camaro.

And here's the part you really care about: the power gains. Keep in mind our SS is bone stock down to the paper filter and super quiet and very restrictive GM exhaust. Of course, peak torque is up, but more importantly, torque is up all across the band. And when you're dealing with a nearly 4,000-pound sports car, low and mid range torque can go a long way toward making the car feel more svelte.

MORE PHOTOS

VIEW FULL GALLERY

xclose

2010 Chevy Camaro SS Magnacharger - Blow Back

Here's our starting point. Somewhere under all that plastic window dressing is a 6.2L LS3 in need of a bit more power. Before messing with anything underhood, we made a visit to the trunk and disconnected the battery. We also removed the gas cap to vent any fuel system pressure.

After pulling off the beauty cover, we removed the factory air intake system. Even though we will be reusing part of it, taking the entire assembly out gave us more room to work.

Next, we started disconnecting all the sensors, fuel injectors, and coil packs. We also drained the coolant.

Magnuson included the tool needed to disconnect the fuel line from the fuel rail. We then capped both the fuel and the hard-line to keep gas spillage to a minimum.

With everything disconnected, we unbolted the GM LS3 intake and removed it from the car. We then covered the intake ports on the engine with some tape to prevent accidentally dropping anything into the cylinder heads.

The water-based intercooler mounts forward of the factory radiator. To gain access, we first removed the Camaro's dual electric fan assembly.

Blowers love to spin, so much in fact that they can sometimes spin the damper on the crank snout. To prevent this, Magnuson includes all the tools necessary to pin the damper in place. The round jig was bolted in place, then we used the drill bit to make the two holes for the pins.

After installing some foam gasket material, Magnuson's Simon Gale, then slid the intercooler in front of the radiator.

The intercooler simply hooks onto the OEM radiator. The bung on the top passenger side is for purging air out of the system, but is not needed for our application, so it was just plugged off.

The LS3 blower installation does necessitate a new valley cover for clearance reasons. Here, we transfer the rubber O-ring seals from the OEM cover to the new billet cover provided by Magnuson. In an L99 application, the OEM valley cover is reused to accommodate the engine's displacement on demand (DOD) functions.

With the cover in place, we then dabbed a bit of black silicone in the six recesses and installed the six provided O-rings. This will help insure we don't pick up any "false knock" after the blower is in place.

The old heater hoses were removed and discarded. We then cut the supplied 5/8-inch hose into two sections (34 and 35 inches in length) and reinstalled them using the factory hose clamps.

As stated, the intercooler system for the Magnacharger is water based, and as such requires an intercooler pump to circulate the H2O. Per the instructions, we mounted the Bosch pump to the frame rail down by the AC compressor using the supplied Adel clamp.

Here you can see the stock LS3 intake next to the TVS 2300 Magnacharger. The blower came assembled as shown with all the injectors and fuel rails already in place. This made installation much easier. We did need to transfer the throttle body, MAP sensor, and the TB gasket to the blower. Since the MAP sensor moves from the front of the LS3 intake to the back of the blower intake, Magnuson includes an extension harness.

Time for the big moment; installing the blower. At around 70 lbs., it's a job for two people. Once in place, we secured it using the new intake bolts supplied in the kit. And yes, we remembered to remove the blue tape first.

Of course the addition of the blower required that the Camaro's computer be reprogrammed. If you're doing this at home, then you will receive an SCT-based handheld programmer. Simply connect it to the test port and download the supercharger program into your ECU. Your stock program will be stored in the device for safe keeping.

Now it was time to start plugging everything back in. The hose from the blower to the blow off valve was already in place, but we needed to run hoses to the power brake booster and the valve cover PCV bung. We also started reattaching wires to the throttle body, coil packs, and fuel injectors. In every case where longer hoses were required, such as the brake booster hose, Magnuson includes the needed parts in the kit. This sure beats running back and forth to the auto parts store.

Back to the cooling system. It was time to install the intercooler reservoir. It attached to the passenger side valve cover using the included bracket. The key here is that it's well above the pump. We then used the supplied hose to plumb the tank to the Bosch pump and to the back of the intake manifold.

On the other side of the engine bay we then completed the intercooler plumbing by running the hose from the intercooler to the back of the intake manifold.

The old tensioner pulley was ditched in favor of the new part supplied in the kit. They also include a new longer drive belt. Here, Simon adjusts tension on the belt per the instruction sheet.

The only wires relating to the blower was this white pair for the inlet air temp sensor. These were spliced into the Camaro's MAF sensor up by the air filter box. This way, air temp is taken from inside the blower manifold.

For a more "factory" look, the '10 system retains the OEM air box, but replaces the restrictive elbow with a higher flowing unit.

One of the last things to hook up on the engine was the fuel line. We then went about double-checking all of our connections and fasteners.

Besides the air temp sender wires on the blower, the only other wiring involved had to do with the Bosch intercooler pump. Following the instructions, we wired the harness and relay into the Camaro's fuse box.

With everything bolted in and wired, we refilled both the intercooler and radiator systems with coolant. One trick Magnuson showed us was to jack up the back of the car to tilt the engine forward and help move air out of the system.

After six hours, here's the final result. If it wasn't for the logo on the intake elbow, you would think it came this way from the factory. We then reattached the battery and fired the engine up for a few minutes to check for leaks.

Since we were at Magnuson, we decided to give the Camaro a custom tune in addition to getting before and after power numbers. Since we are stuck in tree-hugger California, we wanted to make sure the system stayed CARB legal, and happy with our cruddy 91 octane gas.